Can Creativity Be Taught?

No it cannot. It must be unleashed.

We spend the majority of our lives having our creativity beat out of us.

• Factory grade schools with teachers shouting at daydreamers
• A society that preaches conformity and ignorance
• Bland professors afraid (or unable) to rock the boat
• Dull jobs that don't require real brainpower

These are all factors that cage our creativity.

Think back to childhood when a stick and a garden hose were fodder for hours of imagination-enabled entertainment.

To harness creativity you must unleash the imagination.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
~ Albert Einstein

Until you liberate your imagination, you'll never be creative. And creativity is the heart of innovation.

Stop Acting Surprised: Why IT Salaries Are Falling

A recent article on FierceCIO caught my attention. The article was about

"The semi-annual study from Janco Associates Inc., found that CIOs at mid-size companies felt the most pain, reports Computerworld.com. The median pay for a CIO at a mid-level company fell from about $172,000 to $163,000. Comparatively speaking, the salary for the chief security officer at a company, moved from $148,000 to $143,000. IT planning directors took the biggest hit, falling from about $115,000 to $97,000, according to the survey."

This annoys me. Not because I am looking at a pay cut, but because these people have the nerve to act surprised!

Of course salaries are falling. Here's why:

1. The global economy is still in deep trouble.
2. Unemployment is nearing 10% causing downward pressure on all wages
3. Studies indicate that 41% of all IT projects fail to achieve business goals
4. Support costs of IT projects are underestimated by about 20%
5. Only 1 in 5 of all IT projects is likely to bring full satisfaction
6. The larger the project, the more likely the failure
7. 90% of IT personnel are out of touch with company priorities

Stop acting surprised that IT salaries are in decline. They will continue to decline as long as IT keeps being the source of so much business pain. Until my fellow IT geeks get their heads out of the sand are align towards business objectives, we will keep seeing cuts and falling budgets.

Source: http://www.fiercecio.com/story/survey-techs-hgh-end-salaries-are-shrinking/2009-07-01?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

NFIT Reviewed

My book, Nearly Free IT has been received a positive review by Stacey R. Louiso at Attribute Magazine!  Many thanks for the kind words. 

The Future of Copyrights and All Intellectual Property

I've been thinking about copyrights alot lately. And about digital piracy. 

The truth is that both have been locked in a cold war for a very long time. Every new advance in delivery media (vinyl LPs, magnetic tape, etc.) has been met with a counter to enable theft. The largest barrier for the casual thief was the enormous price of the equipment. But as that equipment got cheaper, the rate of theft has increased. 

For some reason, it is very hard for humans to think of the free exchange of information as theft. I know people who are proud of their collection of stolen music and movies. 

The internet is all about the free and easy exchange of digital information. It allows us to seamless communicate with anyone in the world.  The cost barrier for internet access gets lower every day.

Pretty soon it will be impossible to enforce copyrights. The cold war between content creator and info pirate just got very hot. The internet makes it impossible for the enforcers to stop piracy. They can stop one site, one service but dozens more will spring up. It's the Hydra Effect.

So...

1. Keep fighting a losing battle until all copyrights become worthless.
2. Find an alternative solution.

As someone who creates content, I prefer Option 2. 

So, let's figure it out. What does an alternative to copyright look like? What should it include? How is it enforced? What does 21st Century Copyright look like? 

MIT's Sixth Sense

Pattie Maes from the MIT Media Lab's new Fluid Interfaces Group describes the new Sixth Sense - it's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment.

Are you ready for the future?

Technology changes faster and faster. New innovations are coming that will dramatically rewrite the rules for how we live, work and play.

If your business ready? Or will you be caught off guard? Will you be in the right position to face the challenges of tomorrow?

Get futureproof - call R-Squared Computing today. (800) 784-8045